Technology started to break down. Electricity failed. Machines stopped working. Planes, trains and cars became useless hunks of metal. And then the dragons came. On the Night of Burning, the world's great cities were reduced to slag and rubble by dragon fire. Civilization, as we knew it. ceased to be.But before the end came, there were the Changlings. A few humans, children and adults alike, began to mutate into...something else. Ears became pointed, fingers fused or elongated. Their old languages were lost to them and they began to babble in unknown tongues. Perhaps one in a hundred thousand Changed. Simon O'Toole was one of them.Back then, he was a large middle-aged man. Now he's a skinny, awkward teenager, Simon has lost everything; his family, his friends, the world that he knew. But he has gained something as well. Through hints in dreams, he has learned magical runes that can summon elementals. He can cast fireballs and lightning. In short, Simon has become a wizard.Slowly, carefully, he is learning to use this new power. It will take years to master his magic. Years that Simon may not have.The dragons are still on the hunt. They search for survivors of the human race, and when they have been exterminated, the dragons will turn on the last remnants of humanity: the Changlings themselves.

    Me, too.It all started with a stupid fight. Honestly, I was probably looking a reason to storm out of the apartment and get away from my boyfriend’s disappointed sighs for a few minutes. A walk in the nearest park was just what I needed.What I didn’t need? To impulsively walk through a ring of strange-looking mushrooms only to end up in the mythical, magical world from my mother’s supposedly made-up fairy tales.Faerie. I’m in Faerie.As soon as I cross over, I’m lost. The fairy circle is gone, the trees all look the same, and I don’t have any idea where I am, or how I’m going to get home. I think I can trust the pixie.Nope.Maybe the pair of dwarves who seem so kind?Yeah. Seem is the key word there.By the time I’m on my way to the auction block at the Faerie market, I can’t help but stew over all of the ways I’ve been tricked. This sucks. And it only gets worse after that…

    A feral, filthy and malnourished child; he haunts the streets of the medieval city Anistigh and survives on what he can steal. When he tries to steal a purse and bungles it, a mob wants to cut off his hand as punishment, so to save himself he slips into a convenient shadow to hide. Rat thinks it's just another warm and comfortable shadow cast by the sun, but a clan wizard sees him create the shadow with his magic, an instinctive act of which Rat is unaware. Rat's magic is subtle, but potentially quite powerful, so he is adopted into the greatest of the Lesser Clans, adopted into a family, and given the name Morgin.Morgin quickly grows into manhood and the clan teaches him wizardry and sorcery and swordsmanship. Having survived the streets of Anistigh, Morgin is inclined to avoid conflict, would be content to remain on the sidelines in the ever present clan rivalries. But as a clansman he inherits the enemies of the clan, and his shadowmagic proves to be a potent weapon. And when he comes into possession of a powerful talismanic sword, he's thrust into the forefront of the clan rivalries. As the ancestral conflict between the Greater and Lesser Clans once again leads to war, not even the clans realize that their petty little war is spawned by the primeval battle between the righteous gods of the Celestial Plane and the fallen gods of the Nether Plane. And Morgin learns that it is upon the Mortal Plane, with mortal lives, and mortal pain and suffering and death; it is upon the Mortal Plane that the gods meet and fight their wars.

     But if she doesn’t reach him in time, an assassin in the service of the Queen of the Underworld will steal away her only chance to save him. Author’s Note: A Blade’s Beginning is a short story that is part of the Ishtar’s Legacy universe. It ties together events from Ishtar’s Blade and Blade’s Honor. I’ve decided to publish it separately from book 2 in the series because of the sixteen-year span of time between books. And many readers say they don’t like prologues. If prologues aren’t your thing, skip this story and just wait for Blade’s Honor, coming soon! Also, if you haven’t read book one, Ishtar’s Blade, you’ll want to double back and read that one first. Blade’s Honor is coming soon!

    That's what happened to little ole' me, Eve Stone. Only that it's not love that the breathtakingly handsome fae wants from me. Aradaen Starlight wants to save his kingdom, and for that he needs my virginity. Mating with me will make him invincible, but that will be that. He can't get serious with me, because he's bound to further his race with a woman of his kind, not to mention that I, as a human, am way beneath fae royalty. To his courts, it's a jest of nature that I of all people should be the Starlight prince's fated mate. But when it turns out that I have magic in my blood, I become interesting to them. The prince and I make an agreement in order to save our worlds, but we cannot fall in love. If we do, all hell will break loose.

    When her beloved father goes missing one day, Blair decides to set out and try to find him no matter what the cost may be.But a young lass, and especially such a beautiful one, has no chance of tracking down a man without getting herself in danger, and Blair knows that well. With hopes that there is still valor left in the world, she stops at a nearby training ground trying to find someone to escort her across the country, only to be let down again and again.With a scarce amount of valuables to offer as a reward, most men are immediately disinterested in her offer, except one. Slaine Thàmhais, as his name is, looks like the perfect man for the job. Tall and strong like an ox, he seems like he has seen more fighting than he would like to remember. But why would a man like that accept her offer?Slaine hides more than meets the eye behind his intimidating appearance, but all that Blair can focus on now is finding her father. When they face dangers that might become deadly, Slaine has to reconsider how much he is willing to risk for a lass he just met and an old man he has never seen.As Slain continues down this road alongside Blair, fate brings him face to face with demons of his past once more. This time he will either find redemption or be defeated once and for all…"Highlander's Road to Valor" is a standalone story by best-selling author Ann Marie Scott, packed with adventure, romance and redemption set on the beautiful backdrop of the Scottish Highlands. Get your copy TODAY for 99c OR FREE With Kindle Unlimited!

    But she never expected to fall in love with him, or that the real enemy is common to both, and is getting even closer...The Highlander’s Secret MaidenAvoiding her fearful fate with a despised British Army Officer, Georgina Andrews escapes with two fearsome Highlanders. Torn between them, Marcas McGowan makes the decision for her, when he puts her needs above all...even his own brother.Highlander’s Love in CaptivityWhen Jane Keppel and her father get abducted by the powerful Laird Bhaltair McColl, her fate hangs from a thin thread. Realizing she has to pay for the mistakes of her family, one secret is enough to either fix or destroy everything...and it revolves around Bhaltair’s most profound pain: the death of his wife.Welcome to Scotland, a land of powerful romance stories, that contain adventure, drama, twists, and most of all, love. Enjoy!

    William Duke of Normandy is to be crowned King of England on Christmas day 1066; and he expects presents. For reasons beyond reason the monastery of De'Ath's Dingle is invited to the ceremony and the only ones who can be let out on their own are Brother Hermitage and Wat the Weaver. But it will be a rush to get there. With only 7 days to travel over 100 miles, the pair must cross a frozen and largely lawless country if they are to make it to Westminster alive. And then there's the problem of Wat's attitude towards gifts in principle. He doesn't mind a reasonable exchange but simply giving sounds like a very poor deal. Perhaps the days of the journey will give Brother Hermitage the opportunity to breath the spirit of the season into his weaving friend. Or perhaps not. Recent reviews for Howard of Warwick continue a theme: 5* "Very funny" 5* "Another demented tale" 5* "Briiiiiliant as always."

    It’s a secret he’s kept from the knights he’s fought beside, from the ladies who bat their lashes at him, and from his closest companion, Prince Reynold. If it were to get out, he’d be banished to the Mawrcraig Mountains along with the rest of his kind, but the kingdom of men is the only one he’s ever known, and his heart lives in the stone halls of those who’d count him an enemy. When the old king dies and Prince Reynold takes the throne, two visitors from the north throw Tristram into the middle of the ancient conflict between dragons and men. They put him on a collision course with the king’s shadow, Bet Kyston, a dangerous assassin who may want him dead or may want more of Tristram that he’d ever thought to give. With the eyes of dragons upon him and a threat from the north creeping toward the home he loves, Tristram must weigh his allegiances before his dual legacies tear him apart.

    Shadows gather: legacies of the centuries-long rivalries for power, old betrayals, the endless plots of the courtiers, and the murmur of rebellion in the southern provinces ...Catwin, plucked from her life at the edge of the Kingdom, is thrust abruptly into the world of the Court when she is chosen by the Duke of Voltur to be a Shadow—spy, shield, and blade—to his niece, the Lady Miriel DeVere. The Duke’s ruthlessness is legendary, and he will stop at nothing to become the power behind the throne, using Miriel as a pawn to catch Garad’s heart.But the Duke's carefully-laid plans are only a piece of the intrigue of the court, and greater forces than Catwin can imagine are massed against her, determined to eliminate Miriel and impose a new order of their own. If Catwin and Miriel are to survive, they must learn quickly who to trust, and when to turn their skills against the very people who have trained them...

    But when they murdered his parents and enslaved his sister and his sweetheart, they left him no choice. Brion of Wexford is the son of a crippled trapper living a quiet life on the edge of the vast and unruly heathland. But when Salassani raiders destroy his world, he must venture into the heathland to attempt the impossible task of finding the girls, rescuing them, and conveying them safely home across hundreds of miles of enemy territory. Now Brion finds himself pursued by men bent on his destruction, deprived of his protectors, and haunted by the knowledge that his murdered father has hidden a dark secret that could reshape Brion’s entire identity. Brion must find a way to stay alive long enough to get the girls safely home. This is an adventure series perfect for fans of John Flanagan’s Ranger's Apprentice, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire series.

    

    

    And she is certain her day would have ended with another lecture. Had she not been taken hostage by a brutish but dangerously handsome Highlander, that is.Jude Anderson, Laird of Hanvale, is hellbent on getting his son back from the people who kidnapped him. However, he didn’t count one thing: the fear in the faerie-like eyes of the Englishwoman, or the feelings it would ignite in his heart.Yet, as happy as he feels with Cleopatra in his arms, Jude’s mind never strays from his ultimate goal: keeping his son safe. An undertaking that seems almost impossible when assassins move through the walls. Because it's an eye for an eye, a child lost for a lost child...

    A Duke of the Holy Roman Empire, his cunning overshadowed only by his ambition. A young Priestess of the Old Religion, together with a charismatic outlaw, sparking a rebellion from deep within the forests... and an ex-Hospitaller caught between them all.At the end of the thirteenth century, five hundred orphans and second sons are rounded up from villages in the Alpine countryside and sold to the Hospitaller Knights of St John. Trained to serve as Soldiers of Christ, they fight in eastern lands they know nothing about, for a cause they do not understand.Thomas Schwyzer, released from his vows by the Grandmaster of the Hospitallers, returns to the land of his birth a stranger. Once a leader of men, and captain of the Order's most famous war galley, he now settles into the simple life of a ferryman. He believes this new role to be God's reward for years of faithful service fighting the Infidel in Outremer.Seraina, considered a witch by most, a healer by some, is a young woman with a purpose. A Priestess of the Old Religion, and the last Druid disciple of the Helvetii Celts, she has been gifted by the Great Weave to see what others cannot. Her people need her guidance and protection now more than ever. For Duke Leopold of Habsburg, in his efforts to control the St. Gotthard Pass, builds a great Austrian fortress in Altdorf. Once finished, the Habsburg occupation will be complete, but the atrocities visited upon her people will have just begun.